Posts Tagged ‘Glenfiddich’

VIDEO: Balvenie v Glenfiddich – neighbours, so what makes them so different?

Dominic Roskrow travelled to Speyside to speak to the Balvenie Distillery about their whisky.

What I liked this week

 

Stand and deliver

It’s not every day you get the chance to help create a quality Scotch blend or to watch a master craftsman at work – so when William Grant & Sons asked me to join Brian Kinsman to do just that it was too good a chance to miss.

I nearly did miss it though – my flight to Aberdeen was delayed nearly four hours and I arrived just in time for the blending session.

William Grant & Sons has found an old recipe that dates back to June 11, 1912 – exactly 100 years ago to the day – so the plan was to use as many of the original whiskies as possible to recreate the blend, which is called Stand Fast.

It was a truly fascination exercise. Using an array of grains from different distilleries, including three that are now closed, and including a heavily sherried and sulphury sample, we made a blend using a mix of just three malts – from Glenfiddich and from Balvenie, both of which Brian had prepared earlier and which included malt of various ages, as well as a very earthy and peaty Highland Park.

The blend contained about 40 per cent malt and had a distinctive Highland earthiness and a surprisingly feisty finish.

There wasn’t any chill-filtering a century ago but Brian and global brand ambassador Ludo Ducrocq came up with a novel way of removing the fatty particles which cause clouding – egg white. Over a few days the egg hoovers up the congeners and the resulting deposit can apparently be easily filtered out. I’m not too sure about this as I have an egg allergy, but it made for an unusual twist to proceedings nevertheless.

We finished just in time to get to the Highlander in Craigellachie to catch England play France. Ludo, who is French, recorded the match and didn’t want to know the score, so we spent dinner and several late night drinks hinting that England had won 6-0.

Boys will be boys…

 

 

Ready to rock and roll

Just two days left to go before Compass Box’s John Glaser and I attempt to conduct eight tastings in eight cities over 700 miles and 24 hours.

How do you train for a 24 hour trek like that? Not sleep in practice so you’re tired before you even start? Or  try and sleep more so that you’re at maximum energy for the big day?

The William Grant trip and subsequent drinks in the bar meant that the second option was never on the cards.

We start at one minute past midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning at The Whisky Shop in Inverness and will be in Edinburgh for 4am. We’ll be joined by Whisky Shop head office heavyweights Andrew and David, who will be driving us.

The plan is to finish up in Brighton before midnight on Friday night. And it means that I’ll be listening to England beat Sweden in the back of a van in the company of an American and two Scots.

Oh Lordy mama!

 

 

A busman’s holiday…

My family has stayed at the lodges above Aberfeldy distillery three times now and every time it has been wonderful;. This visit, though, was the best of all. The weather was decidedly better than down south, we had great walks and discovered some great pubs. Perfect!

And then there was the inevitable trip to the distillery for a meeting on the last day. The family spent a happy hour at the Dewar’s World of Whisky, my 11 year old once again proved to be a far better blender than I am, and ambassador Stephen Marshall sent me off with an array of wonderful whisky including Aberfeldy 21 year old and Dewar’s Signature. A great way to end a great week.

 

Tally ho!

I returned home to find a gift from Diageo of all people – an unsolicited sample of both the Talisker 25-year-old and the Talisker 30-year-old. Both were enjoyed over the weekend – and both were wonderful.

Whisky Auction Watch – March 28, 2012

Andy Simpson reports on the latest auction news:

“Firstly, following on from my comments last week, it’s interesting to see the effect a flooded market has on bottles of whisky. The Macallan Easter Elchies Cask release sold at auction last week for the equivalent of its original £145 retail cost. Granted, it was the full sized bottle without the mini but that’s a completely different ball park to the first recorded sale of £345.

This years release of Springbank 21 year old is also seeing some cooling in values with a sale of £195 following its early peak of £275.

Onto other auction prices:

Ardbeg
The Ardbeg 17 year old seems to be lifting back up a little with a sale of £190 being the highest recorded since October last year.

Another Ardbeg hit new highs last week with a bottle of ‘Almost There’ selling for just shy of £90. In 2008 these were changing hands at auction for £35 – £40.

Glenmorangie
Staying with LVMH, it’s good to see a new Glenmorangie record at £205 for the 1987 Managers Choice (bottled 2001). Might there be a more general upturn in older Glenmorangie prices? It would be nice to see.

Glenfiddich
Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix seems to have moved up to a consistent new trading level of around £100. That said, when there are a high number in the market at the same time, this bottle does experience significant price volatility and tends to see a downward spike to around £60.

Talisker
The final bottle this week is the supremely divine Talisker 1981 20 year old (the one with the gold map of Skye on the label). This just goes to show how important the quality of the whisky is when looking at what to buy. Back in 2008, believe it or not, you could pick these up for well under £100. One sold over the weekend for £450! From memory, these bottles retailed for £70 which represents an increase of 543%. I was going to drink my last bottle but I think I’ll hang into it now!

Viva Dram Vegas – Friday night

You know Richard Paterson’s in town as soon as you walk through the door. Party poppers go off, there are screams of delight and then Richard’s rumble rules the room.

New York, London, Paris, Munich, everybody knows his pop music… and here in Vegas he’s doing his smoothie Sinatra bit to great effect.
But the party’s certainly not his alone – this is a whisky show wrapped in the opulence of one of Las Vegas’s most premier resorts, the Wynn Encore, a hotel the size of a small town dripping in glitter and gold, and the perfect place to host some of the world’s truly great whiskies.
Some of the style of Las Vegas has found its way in to the show, somewhat incongruously, given the modest nature of Scotch whisky, but it’s a show that is definitely different.
Friday begins with a preshow session for ‘High Roller’ ticket holders, who have paid extra for a series of privileges, and some early evening master classes. Once the show’s open the quality of the whisky on offer is phenomenal, with High Rollers entitled to an even higher level of whiskyn known as ‘super pours.’
To give you a flavour of the whisky on offer, the list includes, in no particular order, Glenfarclas 1966 exclusive cask 47.9%, Glenfarclas 1989 exclusive cask 55.4%, Mahesh Pastel’s new Siriius range (1962 North British, 1965 Carsebridge, 1966 Fettercairn, 1967 The Dalmore), Old Pulteney 17yo, 21yo and 30 yo, Glenlivet XXV and Archive 21 YO, Macallan 1950 Cask 600, Highland Park 30 year old and 40 year old, Glenfarclas 40 yo, 1962, 1972 and 1982, Glenfiddich 30 yo and 45 yo, Bsalvenie 30yo and 40yo, Jura 1976, Fettercairn and 30 yo and 40 yo and Dalmore 1974, 1978, 40 yo Astrum and 45yo Aurora.
They’re just the special ones. An amazing evening.

Viva Dram Vegas

the Nth Whisky Show Live, March 2, 2012

The Wynn Resort is vast and lavish -but  the second Nth Whisky Show takes some finding.. When you do so , though, it’s quite astounding.
We fly in to Las Vegas- always an awesome experience – just as tornados hit states including my second home Kentucky and Louisville – and as always the whole experience is a disconcerting one. This shouldn’t happen in the first week of March – God help these people over the next four months – before the hurricane season. It looks like hell.
But the Wynn Resort is quite amazing – lavish, classy, stylish and  the size of a small town. So big that they give you as map at reception.
To find the whisky show you have to walk for 10 minutes. Imagine a concert hall such as the O2 or the Birminghasm NEC only with expensive carpets, beautiful decor and fne art. That’s where we are.
And then you stumble upon it, and it’s an Alladin’s cave of great whisky.
The whole point of the Nth Whisky Show is to spotlight the world’s best whiskies, and  it’s hard to take in all that is on offer here. George Grant is here with a wide range of great Glenfarclas single malts. Richard Paterson and David Robertson are presenting the best of Dalmore, Ferttercairn and Jura, Ian Millar and Sam Simmons are presenting Glenfiddich and Balvenie malts face to face, and Pernod Ricard, Morrison Bowmore, and various independent bottlers are all well represented.
Best whisky of the night? Hard to say  but a Laphroaig from an independent Italian company was close.
Time for bed…

Glenfiddich Rare Collection 40yo, 43.6%

A shy nose, with chestnut, old fruit, damp. But the palate is surprisingly soft and subtle, with a big dose of aniseed, honey, melon, and no astringency at all. Incredibly dainty and polished, a dapper old man. The finish is medium long, but very soft, rounded and balanced with absolutely no negative notes, sharpness or astringency. Quite a work of art.

 

Glenfiddich 21yo, 40%

Clean barley, on the nose, with boiled sweets, model adhesive, clean barley, new office, lemon cleaner on polished wood. On the palate, there’s lemon and honey, clean sweet malt, some mint, traces of oak, some spice and tannins. The finish is medium, sweet, citrusy, quite zesty and spicy.